Mobilizing G8 on food

When leaders of the G8 countries met at Camp David in May, the proceedings were closely watched not only by experts in trade, politics and economics but by experts on world hunger. The Group of Eight, which includes representatives of most of the world’s largest economies, has become a key forum for addressing issues of food security and nutrition.

At President Obama’s first G8 conference in 2009, he convinced his colleagues to contribute $22 billion to agricultural development and food security. The amount was astonishing given that this occurred at the height of the global financial crisis. His success was evidence not only of his personal charisma but of how seriously world leaders had been shaken by the food-price crisis the year before.